The Past That Haunts Us [Izumo](Closed)

Izumo slowly walked along Sokyoku Hill, dressed in his best Captain's haori. He had several, but only one had a blue lily stitched into the front of it. The man, despite his normal, haggard looks, looked incredibly done up. It was as if he were going to meet someone. His haori looked freshly-pressed, and his black Shinigami garb looked ever better.

After walking to the edge of the hill, he stood still and crossed his arms for quite some time, staring out at something unknown. Suddenly, he smiles glumly and nods. "About twenty years, now... Right?" With a slow step forward, he walks off the edge of the hill, apparently dropping straight down. He landed with a thump and grinned, groaning in pain from the landing. "Gahh... Probably should have just walked around, eh? I'm getting too old for this..."

With a laugh, he turned around. Right at the bottom of the cliff was a small gravestone, with 19 red flowers around it. The flowers all looked crystallized from an unknown source. With a smile, Izumo counted the flowers and nodded. "Yup. Twenty years. Been a long time since I was that kid in the Academy, eh? Or even as your Lieutenant..." He walked forward, the crystallized flowers bordering a path to the gravestone itself. He quickly unsheathes his zanpakuto and slits his wrist with it. "Surge, Chishioyaiba." Stated very flatly, it sounded like an order. Still, as his zanpakuto vanished, he drew a long, thin line of blood from his wrist. Spinning a finger quickly gave the line a flower head, and with some concentration, it hardened to form a exact replica of the nineteen others that were already there.

"Sorry I can't do any more than this, Kaori... But if it's any consolation, I am, quite possibly the best mind the Soul Society's got. Aside from Jin, but he's not in my field, so it's not exactly fair to compare us both..." He knelt in front of the grave and lowered his head. "Yes, Captain. There is nothing gained by being a braggart. I apologize..." With a grin, he laughed and nodded. "I preferred the times when you used to yell at me for stupid things I used to do..." With a tear actually escaping his eye, he placed the twentieth flower in the ground, making the two lines symmetrical. "Suppose you'd yell at me for keeping on about this as well... Well..." He stands up very slowly and still holds his smile. "I hope that, wherever you are, you've got it better now. You always did like being piled up with work, I suppose..." He gave the gravestone a shrug. "Hey, with any luck, you have an administrative position where you are now. Perhaps when I die, you'll put me through the rings once more, eh?"

"Ever since you left, things have been rather lackluster around here..." He sighed and crossed his arms. "I can't trust anyone anymore, but you... You understood my wants... You understood my hobbies. Why was I interested in the Hollow? Only you cared to hear it."

Izumo knelt on the ground as his reiatsu grew heavier, almost like a pulse of thick negativity. Chishioyaiba formed out of his blood seeping from his wrist, giggling insanely as she formed. The woman floated around him, laughing brokenly. "Chishi's only gotten worse... She's taken to looking like you, recently..." It was true. With her flowering, pink kimono, short purple hair, and delicate features, she was a distinct copy of Kaori Makoto, Izumo's old Captain. Of course, her eyes were black holes that appeared to lead to nothing and her mouth was sewn shut, dripping blood.

Still, the woman impishly giggles as she floats around him, jeering at him until he broke the control, shouting. "Alright! That's enough, you cruel bitch!" He stands, glaring daggers to Chishioyaiba before she faded, his zanpakuto reappearing on his hip. Putting his forehead into his palm, he sighed. "I'm sorry... I still can't really control her. I guess I'm just disappointing you by staying here, right?" He shakes a bit and looks to the grave one last time. "I guess I'll see you next year, Captain. Oh, and..." He smiles, whispering. "I love you... You and Kahna... I'll make sure each one of them regret taking you away from me..."

Turning, he walks slowly away from the gravesite, leaving it once again for the twentieth time since she was killed. Still, the morose-looking man had trouble recovering from the deaths of his wife and daughter. Other than business, it had weakened him greatly. He hadn't been in a combat situation in nearly twenty years due to his overall mood, and really needed to get back out there once more. After all, what good was a Medical Corps Captain that couldn't fight to protect himself?